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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik |
GHOST TOWN
SHARP OBJECTS meets Flannery O'Connor in Garcia Marquez's Macondo or rather its Taiwanese equivalent in this bestselling literary mystery, in which a prodigal son returns to investigate a death in the family.
Yongjing, a small town in central Taiwan and whose name means Eternal Peace, is anything but. It is the birthplace of Keith Chen youngest of seven siblings and result of parents who desperately wanted a son but instead got only daughters. He turned out to be gay; of course, he had to run away.
The story begins many years later, when Keith has just been released from prison for killing his boyfriend in Berlin. He is about to return to Yongjing, now a poor and desolate place. With his parents gone, sisters married (to wrong guys), mad, or dead, there is really nothing left for him here. So why is he coming back? What happened more than a decade ago that tore this happy family apart? And why did Keith kill his German boyfriend?
Told in a myriad of voices both living and dead and moving through time with deceptive ease, GHOST TOWN weaves a mesmerizing web of family secrets and countryside superstitions, the search for identity and clash of cultures. Kevin Chen's first novel in over a decade is a sumptuous read, an irresistible fusion of rural noir, Gothic family saga, bildungsroman, and magical realist mystery.
Published last December, GHOST TOWN has already gone through four reprints and won the Golden Tripod Award, the highest award our government gives to a book. It has just been shortlisted for the Taiwan Literature Award which will be announced in mid November. Rumor has it that it will win, which is a huge deal as the prize money is about $33000.
Kevin Chen (b.1976) began his artistic career as a cinema actor, starring in various Taiwanese and German films. Now based in Berlin, he is a staff writer for Performing Arts Reviews magazine. He has published several novels and short story collections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611dmw_QAAA
The story begins many years later, when Keith has just been released from prison for killing his boyfriend in Berlin. He is about to return to Yongjing, now a poor and desolate place. With his parents gone, sisters married (to wrong guys), mad, or dead, there is really nothing left for him here. So why is he coming back? What happened more than a decade ago that tore this happy family apart? And why did Keith kill his German boyfriend?
Told in a myriad of voices both living and dead and moving through time with deceptive ease, GHOST TOWN weaves a mesmerizing web of family secrets and countryside superstitions, the search for identity and clash of cultures. Kevin Chen's first novel in over a decade is a sumptuous read, an irresistible fusion of rural noir, Gothic family saga, bildungsroman, and magical realist mystery.
Published last December, GHOST TOWN has already gone through four reprints and won the Golden Tripod Award, the highest award our government gives to a book. It has just been shortlisted for the Taiwan Literature Award which will be announced in mid November. Rumor has it that it will win, which is a huge deal as the prize money is about $33000.
Kevin Chen (b.1976) began his artistic career as a cinema actor, starring in various Taiwanese and German films. Now based in Berlin, he is a staff writer for Performing Arts Reviews magazine. He has published several novels and short story collections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611dmw_QAAA
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Book
Published 2019-12-01 by Mirror Fiction |